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The recent attacks in Gilgit-Baltistan (GB) on foreign mountaineers and security personnel by the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), shows the level of increasing talibanisation in this strategic region. The Shia dominated region in Pakistan occupied Kashmir (POK), which is legally and constitutionally an inalienable part of India has been simmering with political discontentment for long.
The region, inhabited by Twelver Shia, Ismaili, Nurbakhshi and Sunni Muslims has been afflicted by sectarian violence for decades and has seen frequent clashes amongst adherents of different sects and sub-sects of Islam. Shias and other minority sects have often accused government agencies of aiding and colluding with Sunni radical outfits. However, the arrival of TTP has changed the existing dynamics of sectarian conflict in the region.
Despite the region’s long history of sectarian violence and Taliban’s propensity to jump in to the sectarian fray on behalf of Sunni militant outfits, the Taliban and Al Qaeda did not make their presence felt in this remote region until 2009. Besides sectarian motives, their movement into the region post 2009 was also driven by the deployment of Northern Light Infantry (NLI), which has predominantly Shia troops from GB, in operations against Taliban in Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA). In April 2009, an Al Qaeda member, Abdullah Rehman threatened to blow up a four-star hotel in Baltistan. In May 2009, following a bomb blast in Baltistan, two Sunnis with TTP links were arrested with a large cache of explosive material and hand grenades. Two months later, in July 2009, a bomb hurled by Taliban militants in the Bagrot Hostel, killed two students and injured several others. Subsequently, one Taliban militant hailing from Peshawar was arrested in Gilgit on 26 January 2010.
The use of NLI against Taliban and increasing influx of Taliban, have accentuated the sectarian divide in the volatile region. Taliban’s increased presence has also led to a change of demographic profile in this delicate region and erosion of its unique cultural identity. In the first ever election to the Gilgit-Baltistan Legislative Assembly in November 2009, the women were not allowed to participate in Sunni dominated Diamer District, where the Taliban influence is maximum. Although, 2010 and 2011 were relatively peaceful, this period saw significant movement of Taliban into the region especially after the operations in Swat Valley and surrounding areas. Growing collusion between the Taliban and Sunni extremists saw the mode of sectarian violence graduating from sniper firings to bomb blasts. It is believed that the Taliban inculcated in local Sunni youth the expertise of making bombs and suicide jackets. They have also succeeded in indoctrinating local Sunni youths with their extremist brand of Islam.
In 2012, there were numerous attacks by TTP and its allies on Shias travelling to Gilgit-Baltistan from Pakistan and pitched battles were fought on the streets of Gilgit. However, the attack on mountaineers from across the world at Nanga Parbat Base Camp on 23 June 2013 made the entire globe sit up and take notice of the Taliban presence in GB. TTP militants in the uniform of paramilitary Gilgit Baltistan Scouts attacked the foreign mountaineers at Bonar area in Diamer district at a height of 4200 metres. 10 foreigners and one Shia Pakistani guide were killed, while one Chinese mountaineer managed to escape despite being hit. The victims included three Ukrainians, two Slovakians, two Chinese, an American with dual Chinese citizenship, a Lithuanian and a Nepali mountaineer. TTP openly declared that its affiliate, Janood-e-Hafsa, was behind the attack and claimed that it was in retaliation for the killing of Waliur Rehman, their Second in Command, in a drone attack in Waziristan. The fact that the assassins could climb up to such a height, shows that they had adequate local support, intelligence, mountaineering equipment and above all, time to have practiced climbing in such a hostile terrain. After attacking the mountaineers the assassins just escaped, which should be extremely difficult from such a height in a sparsely populated region. The attack ensured that there are no more mountaineering expeditions to the region. The sense of insecurity further increased when the Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) of Diamer District, Muhammad Hilal Khan, and two army officers, Colonel Ghulam Mustafa and Captain Ashfaq Aziz, detailed to investigate the massacre of foreign climbers at Nanga Parbat Base Camp were ambushed at Rohni in the Chilas District on 06 August 2013. The officers were returning after a meeting in Diamer when the ambush took place. The TTP thereafter claimed that Janood-e-Hafsa was behind the attack. According to analysts, TTP has spread its influence within the region and its local networks have been involved in several terrorist activities. Outside the Pakhtoon belt, the TTP has found a good recruiting base amongst the followers of various Sunni sectarian outfits and has accordingly opened a new front in GB.
According to Shia politicians from the region, TTP and its affiliates have pledged to convert this region, which is the only political entity under the control of Pakistan, where Sunnis are in a minority, into a Sunni dominated region. The region also provides TTP militants a good venue for rest and recuperation, far from the battlegrounds of FATA and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Former Interior Minister Rehman Khan had asserted that ‘criminals’ were running towards GB as they were scared of military operations in Waziristan. ISI’s requirement to promote and nurture radical outfits in the region for pursuing its anti-India agenda in Kashmir, requires it to turn a blind eye to the TTP’s growing influence and even provide it with some tacit support. Only token operations are launched whenever TTP launches a big attack.
A senior police official, Ali Zia, the SSP of Gilgit Town had stated on 02 August 2013, that law enforcement agencies were launching an operation to arrest militants, who had entered GB after having been trained in Miramshah in North Waziristan. However, nothing came out of these operations. The Army has now launched an operation in Chilas and Darel valley on 09 August against the militants. Although dozens of men have been arrested, no significant TTP militant is likely to be apprehended, as there is no dearth of Taliban sympathisers within the ranks of Pakistani security forces including the Army. Growing Talibanisation could lead to greater infiltration across the Line of Control from this inaccessible region, as well as lead to greater targeting of local Shia populace. India therefore has a valid reason to be concerned about the growing Talibanisation of this de jure Indian Territory, as this affects the local population as well as Indian security.
By Special Arrangement with The Centre For Land Warfare Studies (CLAWS) (http://www.claws.in)